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Hua Cheng
Hua Cheng (花城, Huā Chéng, lit. Flower City), also referred to as San Lang (三郎 Sān Láng, lit. Third Son) is the main character and main love interest in Heaven Official's Blessing. About As one of the Four Great Calamities, Hua Cheng was titled the Ghost King (鬼王) ''and was known as the richest and most dangerous of the three Devastation-class Demons in the Ghost World. '' In the heavens, he is called the Scourge of Heavens and the Heavenly Officials are wary of crossing him as he defeated and caused the slow death of 33 Heavenly Officials when he first emerged. Hua Cheng is remarked to be the only one who can insult Jun Wu freely as nothing can be done to him no matter what he said, and the Emperor even made a point to tell his subordinates to not step on Hua Cheng's toes. He is shown to not only be extremely strong, but also terrifyingly intelligent and adept with his hands. By himself, he was able to decipher and master a dead language; he also built his domain, the Ghost City, from scratch. He is also shown to have taught himself how to draw and sculpt so well that Xian Le's finest artist in the golden era was no match. Hua Cheng is also known for his moniker, Blood Rain Seeking Flower. ''The story behind this name reached far back during his early days as a Supreme. Once, he wrecked Qi Rong's lair as retribution and the fight caused a blood rain to fall. Walking underneath his red umbrella, Hua Cheng caught sight of a lone white flower struggling underneath the blood rain and stood beside the flower, holding his umbrella over it until the rain ceased. This moment, said to be romantic and unspeakably sad, became one of his most famous story. Charismatic and intelligent, Hua Cheng was a powerful man and he knew it, often acting in an arrogant and aloof manner. However, he showed a completely different side to Xie Lian whom he adored. In the presence of the crown prince, he became a perfect gentleman, sweet and mischievous. Just like any ghosts, his only weakness is his ashes. Scattering these can cause his soul to scatter as well. Hua Cheng's ashes was modeled into an intricate, beautiful ring that he gifted to Xie Lian as necklace. When asked if his ashes were sufficiently protected, he stated that if the hiding place of his ashes were to be destroyed then he would no longer have any reason to exist and might as well disappear. Appearance As one of the strongest entity in the story, Hua Cheng commonly shift his appearance to the point it was said no one alive (or not-alive) has ever seen his true form. His true form is described to be extremely handsome and striking like a sharp sword with skin white as snow and hair black as inkChapter 36 with a widow's peak on his forehead. His eyes are described as being 'bright as the stars'. Commonly wearing maple-red robes, silver vambraces and black boots decorated with silver chains. Hua Cheng wore a braid on the left side of his face and an eyepatch over his right eye. He would often appear accompanied by silver spirit butterflies and blood rain, thus his title ''Blood Rain Seeking Flower. Hua Cheng also has Xie Lian's name tattooed on his left forearm, though no one could tell as his handwriting was almost illegible. Other than that, he also had taken the form of his original body's younger selves. The first time he met Xie Lian his appearance was about sixteen to fifteen, noted to be handsome in a boyish, devilish way. As Wu Ming, he wore black clothes with his hair tied up high and a white smiling mask. Personality He is charismatic and intelligent, with a nonchalant attitude. He cares little for others and mostly acts in his own best interest. However, to Xie Lian he is very gentle, treating him with the utmost care and respect and offering him anything he desires. After the two get married, he has been shown to be a passionate lover and dislikes being away from Xie Lian. Despite being a demon lord, he is not outright evil, seemingly neutral as he neither undertakes altruistic actions or engages in evil or barbaric acts. He seems to have a love of collecting rare treasures, having a large collection of antiques and priceless artifacts and weapons, some of which are thousands of years old. Despite this, he ironically treats them rather poorly. He does not care when they are destroyed and has been shown to abuse or misuse them himself on occasion. He is arrogant, though rightfully so as he is one of the most powerful characters in the series. Despite this, he does have a more vulnerable side. He is deeply insecure of his feelings and feels he is unworthy of Xie Lian's love but once he learns they are reciprocated, he is deeply joyful. History Early Life (SPOILER WARNING) Born under the Star of Solitude, Hua Cheng was fated to have turbulent fortune at the moment of birth. If he were to be fortunate then he will be extremely fortunate but if he were to be unlucky then he would be the most miserable person alive. Because of Bai Wuxiang’s act of releasing the built-up malice inside of himself and overflowing the Kiln, the misfortune sought out Hua Cheng and turned his fortune into something abominable. It was not clear how he lived before meeting Xie Lian, but Head Priest explained that according to his luck his parents either would have died when he was young or would abandon him, he would endure various abuses, bring about misfortune and disasters, rejected by all and die before the age of 18. At the age of ten, Hua Cheng decided he can't bear living anymore and climbed up to the banisters during the God-Pleasing Festival's Parade. Since everyone hated him for bringing misfortune, he wanted to kill himself by jumping on the path of the procession, thus interrupting the parade. Since the parade's length decided the amount of years Xian Le would be safe from disasters, him doing this would be a final act of defiance toward the kingdom that had treated him like garbage. But this plan was cut short when he saw Xie Lian and was entranced by the crown prince's beauty and grace. He wanted to watch so bad, he leaned forward too much and fell from the banister. Xie Lian saved him from plummeting to his death but saving Hong-er stopped the parade nonetheless, something believed to be an ominous sign. He was then brought to the Xian Le palace where the Head Priest demanded he be thrown out because his awful fortune will bring disaster. Xie Lian stopped the Head Priest and comforted Hong-er who cried. Later, Hong-er ran away from the palace. Afterward, Xie Lian met him again when Qi Rong caught Hong-er, ordered a few people to beat him up, stuffed him into a burlap, and tied him on the back of his golden carriage. Xie Lian saved him and was surprised to see Hong-er severely wounded but capable of speech and relatively conscious, something not even most adults can do. He was brought to the cultivation sect above mount Taicang to heal, but his misfortune made all the evil spirits sealed away in the temple escape and attack him. Believing it was his fault, Hong-er ran away. It was the last time they met before Xie Lian ascended as god for the first time. A few years later, Hong-er fought with a group of children who was beating him when Xie Lian, who hid his presence, helped him by splashing water infused by spiritual power to the other children. He then sought shelter from the rain in a run-down, dilapidated Flower Crowned Martial God's temple. It was implied that he came everyday to change the flower held by the Divine Statue with a fresher one. After Xie Lian pelted him with an offering fruit and left him a crimson umbrella, he realized the god was here even without being able to see him. He shouted about how miserable his life is, that he wanted to kill people and then kill himself because he cannot endure all the torment and suffering, and asked Xie Lian what he should do. Breaking the heaven's rule, Xie Lian spoke directly to him, telling him that if he doesn't know what to live for then he should live for Xie Lian, to make Xie Lian his reason for living and walk forward with that. Invigorated by his words, Hong-er ate the offering fruits and from then on became Xie Lian's most ardent believer. Yong An - Xian Le War After the Yong An - Xian Le War broke out, Xie Lian conscripted many young people to his army and Hong-er joined. He was present during the kidnapping of Qi Rong and followed Xie Lian to the cave where the crown prince was trapped and poisoned with Land of Tender by the civilians of Yong An. He helped Xie Lian escape to a nearby cave where the crown prince shed his blood to make two lines on the mouth of the cave, telling Hong-er to stay between the two lines and not move past as it would be dangerous. As Xie Lian was tortured by the heat and lust inflicted by the Land of Tender, the red flowers of the demonic plant bore fruits and left the soil in the shape of naked women, enticing Xie Lian to come to them. Hong-er stood between them and cut down any demonic fruits that came too close. Feeling impatient with Hong-er tenacity in protecting Xie Lian, the fruits began to entice him instead but none worked until one of them dug out of the earth with Xie Lian's form. They laughed and jeered that this is something he would never taste even after eight hundred years of yearning so he should quench his thirst on the fruit instead. He refused and stood there until Mu Qing and Feng Xin came for the prince. Later, he was kicked out the army by Mu Qing. He thought this was under Xie Lian's orders, not knowing that Xie Lian actually regarded him highly and requested for him to be promoted. He stalked Xie Lian until one day the prince noticed him and finally revealed that he didn't even knew Hong-er was kicked out of the army and had wanted him by his side. Aftermath of War Afterlife It is not known how Hong-er died, but later he appeared as a ghost fire caught by a lantern merchant. The merchant explained that he caught the spirits in his lanterns on the battlefield, hinting that Hua Cheng died there. Finding the practice abhorrent, Xie Lian bought tens of those lanterns and let the spirits go. One of the spirits he saved was Hong-er. When Xie Lian asked why he didn't go to the cycle of reincarnation, Hong-er answered that his beloved was still alive and he wanted to protect that person so he cannot go. When Xie Lian said his beloved would feel sad knowing why he couldn't move on, Hong-er said he wouldn't let his beloved find out. After this point, Hong-er showed up in front of Xie Lian a few times to try and help the prince in his lowest moments. Though, as a mere ghost fire, he couldn't interact with the material world, much less touch Xie Lian. The next notable appearance was when Xie Lian faced thirty gods. The gods wanted to cultivate in the place full of spiritual energy that Xie Lian was using and a fight broke off between them. Hong-er in his spirit form was incredibly weak and could only watch as the prince was humiliated. After that, Hong-er seemed to become stronger as he led hundreds of other ghost fires to try and stop Xie Lian from following Bai Wuxian's orders. However, he failed in stopping the prince and Xie Lian was trapped in a Crown Prince temple with one hundred commoners. What followed was one of Hua Cheng's major turning point. Throwing a man with the Human Face Disease into the Crown Prince Temple along with the commoners and Xie Lian, Bai Wuxian told the commoners that the only way to be immune to the disease was to kill someone. Since Xie Lian was an immortal at that point, Bai Wuxian suggested the commoners all kill him one time so they wouldn't catch the disease. Hong-er was captured by Bai Wuxian and could only watch as the commoners stabbed Xie Lian one by one to gain immunity against Human Face Disease until what was left of Xie Lian looked nothing like a human. Tortured by the grief and agony of watching Xie Lian suffer lifetimes of pain and listening to his begging for help, Hong-er gained enough power to become a powerful resentful spirit, killing all the commoners inside the Crown Prince Temple and wailed in front of the altar that held Xie Lian's broken body. Chapter 190 After being reborn as an immensely powerful malicious ghost, Hong-er sworn himself into Xie Lian's serviceChapter 192, following him to assassinate the king of Yong AnChapter 193. Because he had no name, Xie Lian began calling him Wu Ming (Nameless). They left for Lang-er Bay after burning the Yong An palace as the king was already dead from Human Face Disease. In Lang-er Bay, Wu Ming followed Xie Lian's directions to prepare for cursing the populace of Lang-er Bay with the Human Face Disease. During this, they stayed in a dilapidated Crown Prince Temple where Wu Ming placed white a flower in the hand of the Godly Statue, rousing Xie Lian's anger. He lied that it wasn't him who placed the flowers there. It's unknown where he was during the three days where Xie Lian laid in the streets of Yong An as a test for the people to save him. But later, when Xie Lian rediscovered his ideology to protect as many as he can, Wu Ming took Fang Xin from the prince and accepted the hundred of thousands resentful spirits in the sword into himself so Xie Lian doesn't have to, killing himself for the second time in service of his god. The Kiln After the second coming of Human Face Disease was avoided, Wu Ming's soul was scattered and broken. But his love and dedication to Xie Lian allowed him to gather what little soul he has left and traveled to mount Tonglu during its opening to join in the slaughter to become a Supreme. At this point, Wu Ming has no consciousness as he was but a soul bound to earth by the strength of his devotion. During the slaughter, a group of human was trapped in the mountain as well. Wu Ming, though severely weakened and one hit away from dispersing completely, protected and help them avoid the other demonic beings. But one day, they were fully cornered with no way out. Wu Ming, who lost his weapon during a fight, needed a new blade to survive this and to do so needed a blood sacrifice to forge a new weapon. He almost killed one of the human to do this but stopped himself, remembering his god's vow to always protect those in need. In the end, Wu Ming ripped out his own left eye and forged it into E-ming. He was so weakened that he should have died from this, but it had the exact opposite effect and woke up his consciousness completely. After slaughtering the demons that cornered him and took the humans to a safe place, Wu Ming ascended to the heavens as a new god. However, he rejected the heavens and jumped back down to Earth. In the years during which he was trapped in Mount Tonglu, he deciphered and mastered the dead language of the ancient kingdom Wu Yong and created the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods. At first, his carvings of Xie Lian's statue were not very good but he kept on filling the cave with statues for years until he created his biggest masterpiece; a titanic Flower-Crowned Martial God inside the Kiln itself, carved during the two years he was trapped inside before finally managing to break out as a Supreme. Burning the Temples of 33 Gods in a Single Night On the first day of his existence as a Supreme, the first thing Hua Cheng did was challenge 33 gods. If they won against him, he will scatter his ash but if he won, they have to step down from Heaven. He fought the Martial Gods and debated the Literature Gods and in the end wiped the floors with them. Only after the battle was over did the gods realized this ghost they thought insignificant was a survivor of Mount Tonglu's Kiln. But the gods who lost refused to honor their agreement, pretending the fight and the preceding agreement to jump down from heaven if they lost as something that never happened. Seeing this, Hua Cheng decided to help them fulfill their promise by burning down the 33 gods' temples in the human realm. This act caused an uproar and Hua Cheng got the moniker "Heaven's Scourge". However, Hua Cheng's revenge doesn't end there. Every time their followers build a new temple, he would burn that to the ground as well. Without temple and their followers losing faith in them, the gods slowly lost power and faded away, never to return. Not even their names are remembered anymore.Chapter 12 Later, as Xie Lian was told about this story, he suddenly remembered the thirty-or-so gods who shamed him and took his cultivation place when he was banished from his first ascension. Abilities Combat Abilities Being hailed as the 'biggest hotshot' of the underground world, Hua Cheng exist as one of the most powerful entity in the world; second only to Jun Wu and a fully-powered Xie Lian. In fact, he is so powerful that the only one he was ever shown to fight seriously was Jun Wu, to whom he was evenly matched with even in Tonglu mountain, which was Jun Wu's turf, until he took Fang Xin back from Xie Lian. Just like the other demonic (or divine) beings, Hua Cheng's power will be increased in his own turf. Said turf is the Ghost City that he built from scratch to fulfill one of Xie Lian's musings about how convenient such a place would be. Hua Cheng's power comes partly from his inexhaustible reserve of spiritual power, aptly described by Xie Lian as being as bountiful as the sea. The full force of his spiritual power was able to overwhelm even Jun Wu's Curse Markings and break them just by the virtue of being too much for those spiritual devices to handle. Other than being incredibly skilled in the art of the sword, Hua Cheng can also use magic. The Distance-Shortening Dices he gave to Xie Lian will lead him to Hua Cheng as long as he throws them with the intention of meeting the Ghost King. In Hua Cheng's hands, these die can also predict the future as his incredible luck meant he would be sufficiently forewarned if there are dangers ahead. He also can turn people into daruma dolls as a kind of entrapment. Hua Cheng is widely known for three things; the Blood Rain that herald his presence, his fearsome scimitar E-Ming and his silver butterflies. Even the mere mention of these butterflies can strike fear into the heart of every Heavenly Officials and make the wiser ones run for the hills. *Wraith Butterfly In Hua Cheng's control, the butterflies became quite a versatile tool. Capable of great offense as a swarm of them can take down many powerful enemies but also work as a nigh-imprenetable defense. These butterflies can also do recon work such as scouting an area, keeping eyes on targets, turning invisible for spying missions and also work as communication device. Some of the butterflies even has the capability to heal wounds. *E-ming: Hua Cheng's sentient scimitar that he often treat like a disobedient dog. This weapon was famous for being incredibly wicked, with an oppresive sense of evil and malice. One slash from E-ming and his enemy will be poisoned to death. And even if they are allowed to survive, Hua Cheng can order the healed wound to open again at his will and killing his enemy from a distance. A truly terrifying weapon. Mundane Skills *'Weapon Gathering': He has a large collection of rare antiques and powerful weapons. *'Distance Shortening Array Dice': He has a pair of dice that when rolled allows him to transport to different locations. *'Sculpture Craftsmanship': He is extremely skilled with scuplting statues as evidenced by the numerous lifelike statues of Xie Lian in the Ten Thousand Gods Cave *'Painting': He has shown decent skills with painting *'Wealth: '''He is one of the wealthiest characters of the series. *'Domestic skills': He is shown to be a good cook and good at fixing houses and doing household chores while living with Xie Lian. Relationships Xie Lian His lover and the person he admires most. Hua Cheng himself has stated he is his most devoted follower and has more than proven his word having died three times for Xie Lian and come back each time to watch over and protect him. He Xuan The two are neutral to each other. While not friends, the two have allied with each other, as He Xuan helped Hua Cheng gather information in the Heavens while Hua Cheng helped him exact revenge on Shi Wudu. He Xuan also helped Hua Cheng by allowing him and Xie Lian to bring the heavenly officials to his Black Water lair as they were running from Jun Wu and disguise himself as Hua Cheng to check up on the human array preventing the Human faced disease from spreading. Hua Cheng states this is because he owes him a massive debt. Mu Qing He despises Mu Qing for abandoning Xie Lian. Mu Qing is disgusted by Hua Cheng's affection for Xie Lian, calling him a monster and a stalker. Feng Xin He despises Feng Xin the same way as Mu Qing for abandoning Xie Lian. Yin Yu He seems to get along with Yin Yu, who works as his errand boy. Shi Qingxuan While he does not consider him a friend, he seems to at least be able to tolerate his prescence, being far less annoyed with him than with any other heavenly official. Trivia * Hua Cheng's nickname ''Sanlang, which means 'third son' has several meanings. In-world, he is called this as he was the third son of his family. But there's a meta side, as being called Third Son is a continuation of an in-joke where all the main loves of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's novels have monikers that can be organised chronologically. I.e. Luo Bing''ge'' (Big Brother Luo) from Scum Villaim Self-Saving System, Lan Er-ge (Second brother Lan) from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, and now San-lang (Third son) from Heaven Official's Blessing. The main character of MXTX's fourth novel also follow this trend, the character having the nickname Shi Shao (Fourth Young Master) ** In a meta sense, his moniker "Bloody Rain Flower-Snatcher" (血雨探花) is also a reference; tanhua is the title of the overall third-place scorer of the ancient Chinese imperial examinations. ** xuèyǔ (血雨) can also mean "heavy rain colored by loess sandstorm" * Hua Cheng has notoriously bad handwriting, to the point where Xie Lian often helps him practice * Even though he is canonically one of the (if not ''the) ''most handsome man in the novel, he sees himself as being ugly and deformed. Word of God confirmed this, saying that because in childhood was oftentime called an ugly beast, he grew up believing that. Only later on as he grew in power and fame did he began to doubt that he's actually pretty handsome, but in front of Xie Lian he would still feel lacking and thus hesitate in showing his true form to the prince. * MXTX confirmed in an interview that out of the three main love interests in her novels, Hua Cheng has the best skill in bed. * He is so unbearably rich that he would treat legendary, incomparably precious treasures like they're garbage from the local thrift shop. ** Xingtian Hu, the alcohol vessel that can absorb spiritual energy from the sky, earth, sun and moon. Unrivaled in elegance and can help with cultivation. Xie Lian broke it and Hua Cheng didn't even bat an eye before throwing out the pieces and began fussing over Xie Lian. ** Bahuang Brush, the legendary brush which tip was made from an ancient beast's tail, handle made from the finest jade bamboo, and green jade bamboo leaves will sprout if the brush is not used. Hua Cheng blamed his terrible handwriting on it, oftentime calling it a bad brush and kick it god-knows-where. It's up to Xie Lian to find it, pick it up and clean it as Hua Cheng just doesn't give a shit. ** ''"As Shi Qingxuan listed off dozens of suggestions, Xie Lian realized that the legendary and rare treasures he was talking about are all so familiar. And they're all so pitiable - they're either the stools Hua Cheng is using as footrest or the carpet on his floor. If it's not playthings he's using for his amusement, they're things he's thrown away, lost and gone." ''Chapter 252 References Category:Characters Category:Ghost Category:Male Characters